We woke up early and Alp helped us to get to Bostanci where we caught the ferry to Yenikapi. Bostanci is the big ferry port on the Marmara Sea which has all the ferries out to the Prince’s Islands.

We hope to make it out to the Prince’s Islands someday on another trip. As it was we said our goodbyes to Alp and used the time before our ferry to Yenikapi on the European side to try to figure out how we were going to get to our next stop, Bursa.

Bursa was the first capital city of the Byzantines and is filled with historic buildings and sites. It sits on the slopes of a huge mountain called Mt. Uludag and has famous thermal baths, but none of that is the real reason we were going there.

We were going to Bursa because it was on the road to Manisa (much more on Manisa later) and we had found a couchsurfing host in Bursa before we left Morocco, but as you probably already know, our couchsurfing in Bursa didn’t happen, for which I wasn’t entirely disappointed because sometimes it’s nice to get a hotel room and have the freedom to come and go as you see fit. In particular this is true after staying with hosts for a few days. The reverse is also true, it’s nice to have your own house to yourself after hosting for a few days too.

So, in any event. We found ourselves at Bostanci with an hour before our ferry to Yenicapi and so we thumbed through the lonely planet and tried to figure out the best way to get to Bursa, what we would do when we got there, and of course, we watched the other people in the ferry terminal as they read newspapers, kissed in public (which was particularly shocking to Hanane since that is another thing you can be arrested for in Morocco), and wore fashions that were sometimes amusing and sometimes painful.

It looked like the best bet was to go to Yanikapi, catch the ferry to Yalova, and then take a bus to Bursa. That was what the LP said, but when I looked at the ferry schedule, I saw a ferry that went straight from Bostanci to Bursa. Looking at the map, I didn’t really see how that was possible since Bursa seems to be landlocked, but I thought it was worth a try. Our other option , since by this time I’d found out that we didn’t have a couch there anyway, was to take a ferry to Bandirma and skip Bursa all together.

Since I was thinking that, I should say that Bursa had started to look like a place to eat an Iskendar Kebap and see more old buildings. That being said, I really have to admit that I’ve lost my excitement for seeing old things unless they have some special significance to me like having been in a book I read, in a movie I’ve seen, or even in a game I’ve played. I’d rather sit and drink a pint in a place where Steinbeck used to hang out than to look at some 2000 year old building where Blahblah the Great who I never heard of changed the style of dress for the Ottomans. Of course, maybe it’s just a phase I’m going through…

The nature in around Bursa sounded great but I was starting to be in a bit of a destination instead of the journey mode and so decided that we would only stay one day so that we could get to my destination before the weekend came.

In any event, we got to Yanikapi and the direct ferry to Bursa was already gone so I wasn’t able to find out if it was a land ferry or how that worked. I asked a Turkish friend later and they said that it takes you to a spot where you can catch the Bursa Metro. I like to think of the land ferry though.
We also got there a few minutes too late to go to Bostanci. We were just in time for the Yalova ferry but it was full, so we had to cool our heels for 2 ½ hours while we waited for the next one.

I know, we could have done some great exploring, had a nice meal, sat in a park or done lots of great things, but instead we pulled out my netbook and watched a film in the ferry terminal. The trip from Bostanci was 6 lira each, from Yanikapi to Yalova was 28 each, and from Yalova to Bursa Ottogar we would need a bus for 9 lira each, and finally another bus from the Ottogar to the city center for 2 lira each. So 45 Lira each to get from Istanbul to Bursa.

The ferry had assigned seats and some of the most expensive food of any transport I’ve been on. A slice of pizza, a coke, a coffee, and a sandwich cost us 18 lira. It was far less food than a meal would have been. The views from the ferry of the Prince’s Islands and the Marmara Sea were pleasant if not spectacular.

I expected to find the hassles and touts at the ferry port like we would find in Morocco, but Turkey was one of the most hassle free places I’ve ever visited. No one approached us at all. I found the bus to the Bursa Ottogar and we ended up sitting surrounded by an Algerian family who Hanane eavesdropped on to find out if they knew a good hotel. Since they didn’t seem to be saying we decided to pick the cheapest place recommended by Lonely Planet.

We arrived at the Ottogar and I found us a bus to Central Bursa, we asked three young girls carrying their English lesson books if they could tell us which stop to get off at so we could find the Hotel Gunes, but they didn’t know so they asked a guy wearing a cheap suit who was sitting nearby if he knew. He told us to just follow him when he got off the bus. It seemed like a bad idea to follow a guy in a cheap suit off a bus in a strange city, but we did anyway.